From the moment you arrive at UQ, we provide opportunities for you to build employability, i.e., that set of achievements that makes you more likely to gain employment and achieve a rewarding career plan. And even though you’re unlikely to be thinking about ‘life after uni’ during your first few semesters of study with us, we are. This is because we know how important it is for you to be work-ready and career-focused by the time you graduate, and that simply does not happen overnight.
We understand that the nature of work is rapidly changing, with employers seeking to employ graduates who have discipline knowledge and technical skills PLUS experiences. For this reason, we build employability experiences into your degree program that help you transform discipline knowledge and personal attributes into workplace-ready skills.
Authentic assessment tasks
During your program studies, you will regularly encounter authentic tasks as part of your course assessment. Quite simply, these tasks are designed to help you use and apply discipline knowledge and skills to problems and challenges likely to be encountered in real-life work places. This leads to deeper and more productive learning, and a safe way for you to experience some of the complexities and ambiguities of your chosen discipline. Importantly, what you create and produce via these authentic tasks will help build employability and provide evidence of your ability to respond to real-life work situations and problems.
Enhanced employability experiences
We know that employers are looking for employees who are agile, able to adapt to new ways of thinking, and who can leverage existing knowledge to solve the problems of the future. They want leaders. They want lifelong learners. With this in mind, we provide additional opportunities to help you enhance your employability skills via BEL SET and the UQ Employability Award Program.
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BEL Careers and Employability
The Business, Economics and Law Careers and Employability Team offers a diverse range of free activities and opportunities – including workshops, industry placements, work experience, internships, mentoring and volunteering experiences – to help you connect ambitions with future possibilities.
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UQ Employability Award Program
Access a range of free, extra-curricular activities including work experience and volunteering and work towards gaining a UQ Employability Award upon graduation (in addition to your degree qualification). Many of the UQ Employability Award-related activities are hosted by business, economics and law – such as the Disney International Internship, BEL Student Work Experience Program, BEL Community Engagement Program, School of Law Pro Bono Roster Volunteer, School of Law Mooting Program, School of Economics Tutor Program, BEL Music Ensembles and BEL Career Mentoring – we strongly encourage you to take advantage of this free program to enhance your employability.
Industry-linked projects
Our institution is built on the strength and success of its alumni, who graduate to begin and build careers in diverse and numerous industries - locally, nationally and internationally. Drawing on this association, you have the opportunity to be exposed to or solve both live and experienced problems from a range of industry sectors. During these projects, emphasis is placed on tailoring existing theory, concepts and techniques to the problems at hand, while also helping you to acquire industry-specific skills and build your employability.
Work Integrated Learning experiences
Work Integrated Learning (WIL) provides invaluable hands-on experiences via a range of opportunities including industry placements, consultancy projects, simulations, internships and mentoring. Transforming the theories learned in class into work-ready skills helps to unlock your employability potential.